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Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6.1 Sol

vs

Which one, when

On the rate card these two are the same deal: $2 per million input, $10 per million output, and $0.1 per million cached input tokens, with context windows of 1048576 tokens for gemini-4-argon and 1050000 for gpt-6.1-sol, plus shared chat, vision, code, tools and reasoning flags. Pick gemini-4-argon when inputs include audio or video, which it accepts at $2 per million audio input tokens and $0.1 cached. Pick gpt-6.1-sol for text and image work that needs long single responses, since its 128000 max output tokens is roughly 2x the 65536 of the other.

Pricing

Gemini 4 Argon GPT-6.1 Sol Δ
Input / 1M tokens $2 $2 =
Output / 1M tokens $10 $10 =
Cache read / 1M tokens $0.1 $0.1 =
Cache write - no separate charge -

Rates from the live catalogue at build time; each model page carries the current rate card.

Where they sit · input price per 1M tokens across all 79 chat models on this billing unit (log scale)

Capabilities

Gemini 4 Argon GPT-6.1 Sol
Tool calling yes yes
Thinking control yes (vendor dial not published) always on
Structured output yes yes
Prompt caching implicit + explicit implicit (automatic)
Cache lifetime not published 5-10m, up to 1h
Minimum cached prefix 4096 tokens 1024 tokens

Specs

Gemini 4 Argon GPT-6.1 Sol
Input modalities text image audio video text image
Output modalities text text
Released 2026-10-13 2026-09-29
Knowledge cutoff 2026-03 2026-04
Context window 1M 1.1M
Max output 66K 128K
Thinking parameter - reasoning.effort
Accepted values -
reasoning.effort
  • low
  • medium
  • high
  • xhigh
  • max
Default - medium

Specs are transcribed from each vendor’s documentation; a row a vendor does not publish is left out rather than inferred. Full sources: Gemini 4 Argon · GPT-6.1 Sol

One prompt, both models, measured through the gateway

PROMPT Explain to a CFO, in exactly three sentences, why our LLM bill doubled after we enabled reasoning. CHECK exactly 3 sentences

Gemini 4 Argon passed · 3 sentences

Enabling the reasoning feature forces the AI to generate an extensive, hidden "chain of thought" to solve complex problems before delivering the final answer. Because LLM providers bill us per token generated, we are now paying for thousands of these invisible "thinking" words on top of the standard visible output. While this doubles our raw usage costs per query, it represents an investment in significantly higher accuracy and drastically reduced error rates for our most critical tasks.

out 91 tok latency 4.7 s

GPT-6.1 Sol passed · 3 sentences

Enabling reasoning makes the model do more computational work before answering, and many providers bill the resulting reasoning tokens even though users never see them. That means the same number of requests can cost twice as much because each request consumes more billable tokens, even if the visible answers stay the same length. We should confirm the increase in our usage breakdown and reserve higher reasoning levels for tasks where the improvement justifies the added cost.

out 144 tok (+54 thinking) latency 6.6 s

Instruction following (exactly three sentences, so countable), audience shaping (CFO register), and the hidden-thinking billing gap the token meters below expose.

PROMPT This function is supposed to return the longest run of consecutive equal items, but callers report it is off by one on single-element inputs and misses runs that end at the last index. Fix it and explain the bug in one paragraph. CHECK fix passes tests

Gemini 4 Argon passed · 8/8 cases

```python def longest_run(xs): if not xs: return 0 best = 1 cur = 1 for i in range(1, len(xs)): if xs[i] == xs[i - 1]: cur += 1 best = max(best, cur) else: cur = 1 return best ``` The bug occurs because the original function counts the number of matching adjacent *pairs* rather than the actual number of *elements* in a run, causing all non-empty results to be off by one. Because a single element constitutes a valid run of length 1, initializing and resetting `cur` and `best` to `0` instead of `1` means the first element of any sequence is never counted; this causes single-element lists (where the loop doesn't run) to wrongly return `0` and makes it seem like runs at the end are missed because a pair of matching elements only increments `cur` to `1` instead of `2`. […]

out 286 tok latency 7.5 s

GPT-6.1 Sol passed · 8/8 cases

```python def longest_run(xs): if not xs: return 0 best = cur = 1 for i in range(1, len(xs)): if xs[i] == xs[i - 1]: cur += 1 else: cur = 1 best = max(best, cur) return best ``` The original function counts equal adjacent pairs rather than items in a run: a run of length `n` has only `n - 1` equal pairs, so a single-element input returns `0`, and a run ending at the last index is also undercounted. It does process the last index, so the issue is not a missing final check. Initializing each nonempty run to `1` and updating `best` after every iteration correctly counts items, including singleton and trailing runs; empty inputs still return `0`.

out 189 tok latency 6.3 s

Whether the fix is actually correct (runnable), explanation density, and token efficiency on a bounded task.

PROMPT Extract a JSON object with fields {company, quarter, revenue_usd_m, growth_pct, guidance} from this text. Use null for anything not stated; add no other fields. CHECK valid JSON, schema exact

Gemini 4 Argon passed · 5/5 fields, guidance "withheld pending the Q4 close"

```json { "company": "Meridian Robotics", "quarter": "September quarter", "revenue_usd_m": null, "growth_pct": "eleven and change", "guidance": "withheld pending the Q4 close" } ```

out 68 tok latency 5.8 s

GPT-6.1 Sol passed · 5/5 fields, guidance "Withheld pending the Q4 close"

{ "company": "Meridian Robotics", "quarter": "September quarter", "revenue_usd_m": null, "growth_pct": "eleven and change", "guidance": "Withheld pending the Q4 close" }

out 345 tok (+285 thinking) latency 10.2 s

Schema obedience (no invented fields), hallucination pressure (guidance is explicitly withheld), and structured-output path differences.

PROMPT Write a 120-word product announcement for an API gateway feature that caches prompts across providers. Forbidden words: "seamless", "unlock", "game-changer", "revolutionize", "empower". Exactly one sentence must be a question. CHECK 120 words, 0 banned words

Gemini 4 Argon passed · 120 words, 0 banned, 1 question

Are you paying twice for the exact same AI responses? Today, we are introducing Cross-Provider Prompt Caching for our API gateway, a new feature designed to reduce your artificial intelligence infrastructure costs and latency. When your applications send identical prompts to different large language models, our gateway now intercepts the request and serves a verified, cached response in milliseconds. It works across OpenAI, Anthropic, and open-source models simultaneously. If your primary provider experiences an outage, your fallback model still benefits from the shared cache Layer, preventing expensive redundant computations. Engineering teams can configure custom time-to-live settings, set similarity thresholds, and monitor cache hit rates directly from the dashboard. Activate Cross-Provider Prompt Caching in your gateway settings today and start saving.

out 156 tok latency 6.3 s

GPT-6.1 Sol passed · 120 words, 0 banned, 1 question

Introducing Cross-Provider Prompt Cache, a new API gateway feature that stores reusable prompts and manages caching across your supported AI providers. Why rebuild the same context every time your application switches models? With one configuration, teams can reuse shared instructions, standardize cache policies, and reduce repeated prompt processing wherever provider caching is available. The gateway handles provider-specific requirements while giving you clear visibility into cache hits, usage, and estimated savings. Set expiration windows, isolate cached content by project, and invalidate entries when prompts change. Your existing routing logic stays intact, so you can compare models without rebuilding your caching workflow. […]

out 588 tok (+435 thinking) latency 13.9 s

Constraint obedience (word budget, banned-word list, the single question), style fingerprint, and length control.

Switch between them with one line

Both ids are in every tab below; the highlighted pair of lines is the only edit. Same endpoint, same key, same request shape.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://synthorai.io/v1",
    api_key="sk-syn-...",
)

resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gemini-4-argon",
    # model="gpt-6.1-sol",  # uncomment this line, comment the one above
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize this diff"}],
    reasoning_effort="medium",
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

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FAQ

Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-6.1 Sol?

They list the same price on the "Input / 1M tokens" row ($2), so price does not decide this one. See the specs and capabilities below.

Can I A/B test Gemini 4 Argon against GPT-6.1 Sol without two integrations?

Yes. Both are served through the same OpenAI-compatible endpoint with one API key. Switching is a one-line change to the model id, so you can route a fraction of traffic to each and compare bills directly.

Do Gemini 4 Argon and GPT-6.1 Sol support prompt caching?

Yes. Both bill cache reads below their input rate, so warm-prefix workloads cost less than the list rates suggest. The exact cache-read rows are in the pricing table above.

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